Researcher in Planetary Geophysics & Geodynamics

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Alex is a postdoctoral research scientist interested in understanding the evolutionary, tectonic, geodynamic, and geophysical processes of solid planets. His work includes analyses of altimetry, gravity, geomorphology, and tectonics to determine the structure, surface, and internal evolution of solid planets. Alex is also interested in understanding the evolution of early life on Earth. Thus far,…

Analyses of Mercury’s surface by the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft have identified a large portion of the surface to be comprised of Mg-rich basaltic and basaltic komatiitic compositional plains, likely of volcanic origin. However, the compositional differences of these ancient volcanic plains cannot be explained via fractional crystallization and require…

With gravity data acquired by the dual Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft, in conjunction with altimetry data from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) investigation on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, we investigate buried craters within the lunar nearside maria. The contrast of low reflectance material of the lunar nearside maria against the high…

Until recently, the Moon had been thought to have a relatively low volatile content due to a combination of its low gravity and hot impact origin. Accordingly, past studies to investigate the Moon’s formation and its chemical and thermal evolution have focused on a bulk Moon with minimal volatile content and absent of water. However,…

Arabia Terra, with an area of approximately 10 million square kilometers centered at (25E, 5N), is an anomalous region along the Martian dichotomy boundary. Traditionally considered part of the ancient southern highlands, Arabia Terra provides a more gradual transition from the southern highlands to the northern lowlands in both topography and crustal thickness. While the…